The Pursuit of Perfection
by Eleantris
Summary: When he had first met Kate Beckett, he had immediately known three things. One – she was unlike anyone he had ever met. Two – she was possibly the sexiest, most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And three – he wanted to make her his. Caskett, future fic.


_**Hey, just a short little Caskett oneshot, to make up for us having to wait ages for the next episode! I hope you enjoy it!**_

_**X =D**_

_**Disclaimer – I don't own Castle. :D**_

_**The Pursuit of Perfection**_

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As a writer, Richard Castle's first love was words. He was obsessed with words, and adored everything about them. He loved how the perfect combination of words could convey a simple idea in the most complex of ways; he loved how words could flow together to create something almost as beautiful as what they were describing, and most of all, Richard Castle loved how words could convey thoughts and feelings in such a subtle, beautiful manner, that you hardly noticed them there at all.

There were a lot of words that Richard Castle could use to describe Kate Beckett. Smart, brave, determined, caring, funny, gorgeous...the list went on and on, but his favourite word to describe her was, and always would be, extraordinary. Because she was. Kate Beckett was no ordinary cop, and no ordinary woman. She went above and beyond to find people the answers they were looking for, to give them the closure they desperately needed. She worked day after day, often working overtime to finish a case, and she wouldn't be satisfied until she'd got a result and tied up all the loose ends. She was a lot like him, in that sense. He was never happy until he'd finished a book, revealed the ending and answered all the remaining questions. The death of her mother, whilst causing her immense pain that she didn't for one minute deserve, had given Kate Beckett a sense of humility and a talent for sympathy that no other woman he had met possessed. She was, truly, wonderfully extraordinary. One in a million.

Smiling to himself, Rick turned slightly on his side to watch her sleep, content to just lie there and observe the slight rise and fall of her chest, the way her hair fell across her face as she slept on, oblivious to his musings.

When he had first met Kate Beckett, he had immediately known three things. One – she was unlike anyone he had ever met. Two – she was possibly the sexiest, most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And three – he wanted to make her his.

And since then, his feelings for the female detective had done nothing but grow and blossom until he could safely say that he had fallen, one hundred percent in love with her. As a writer, with two marriages, and numerous bestsellers under his belt, Rick knew that perfection was something that could never be achieved, no matter how hard you tried or how hard you looked for it. It didn't exist.

Kate was beautiful, in all senses of the words, but he knew about all the scars that marred her otherwise flawless skin – one on her hip, one down the inside of her thigh, and a few smaller, yet nastier looking ones, at the base of her spine.

She was possibly the smartest woman he knew, yet it had taken her three years to realise they belonged together. She had worked with him, side by side for three years; she knew all the answers, except the one he was looking for. Despite her intelligence and brilliant mind, it had taken her so long to see what had always been right there in front of her.

Brave...that had always been a word he had associated with her, from the day they met. She faced criminals without batting an eyelid, stood tall against death threats and shot back at rapid gunfire. He would go so far as to say that Kate Beckett was almost fearless. Almost. But in that freezer, with the timer ticking away on a bomb somewhere in the city, he had watched her succumb to fear, had watched her for the first time in his life, truly become afraid.

Kate was always determined to do her job, and do it to the best of her ability. And that was why she was the best. Because she put her heart and soul into it, she wasn't afraid to rattle a few cages to get the answers she needed, and she always got it right in the end. But when it had come to confessing her feelings for him, when she had had the chance to make him see that it was her he needed, not Gina, she hadn't been so determined then. Or perhaps, he thought, that was unfair... She had been determined, just not quite determined enough, held back by the fear of rejection, of being alone. He could understand that.

And finally, Rick was sure she was the most good-natured, caring person in his life, aside from Alexis, perhaps. She did her job because she wanted to protect people, keep them from harm and keep them safe. She cared about everyone she came into contact with. But she had done things to hurt him. Will, Demming, Josh... That had hurt him – had torn at his heart. With Demming, he had even left her...and he had almost not come back.

Yes, Richard Castle thought with a sigh as he reached out a hand to gently brush her hair away from her face, his fingertips lingering close to her lips as he brushed over them slightly. She let out a soft moan and shifted closer to him, a smile playing across her face as one arm came up to wrap around him before she settled back down again, face buried against his chest. Perfection didn't exist, it wasn't achievable... everyone had their flaws, everyone made mistakes, and everyone had bad days.

Nobody was perfect, but looking down at her as he pressed his lips to her forehead, Castle was sure that Kate Beckett came pretty damn close.

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_**This just popped into my head, so I thought I'd write it up and see what you all think! I hope you liked it, thanks for reading, and please review!**_

_**X =D**_


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